Alan Judge will undergo another operation to help his recovery from his horrific broken leg, sustained at Ipswich a year ago on Sunday, meaning he will miss the entirety of the 2016/17 campaign.

The Irishman was the victim of a horror challenge from Luke Hyam in the opening stages of Brentford's 3-1 win over Ipswich at Portman Road and has been out of action ever since.

The Tractor Boy was only shown a yellow card but received his marching orders before half time after clashing with Ryan Woods.

Judge had returned to non-contact training but after consultation with sports medicine consultants, the reigning player of the season will undergo further surgery in the next two weeks to stimulate the final stages of bone healing needed to help the Irishman return to full fitness.

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Brentford's head of medical Neil Greig told the club's official website: “Further surgery in cases like Alan's is never out of the question and, once sufficient time has been allowed for nature to take its course, there are occasions where we need to provide a helping hand to gain that final few per cent.

“Alan's rehab and return to monitored training has gone well. However, in order to facilitate him returning to the outstanding levels that we know he's capable of, we're agreed that a procedure to stimulate further bone healing is the next and definitive step.

“Of course, further surgery affects the timescales to return Alan to the squad but given the significant nature of the injury and our collective desire for Alan to return to his brilliant best, we’re united in our belief that time invested now will benefit us all in the long term. Alan will of course receive our continued unwavering support over the coming weeks.”